Who Owns Colorado: retrospective; Three projects as they were envisioned--and what they've become.

• Author: Titus, Stephen

Since 2000 when it introduced the monthly "Who Owns Colorado" series, ColoradoBiz has looked at development projects in more than 50 areas around the state, ranging from far-flung Montrose to landmarks like Stapleton.

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During that time, the housing market has reached the clouds, slid back to earth and now seems to be on the rise again leading to a development style that one developer called "ready, shoot, aim." It would seem, then, that some of these plans would have been driven off course by the vagaries of the state's real estate market.

But representatives from at least three distinctly different projects around Metro Denver--the Sears redevelopment in Cherry Creek, Englewood's civic center improvements, and the new Lone Tree development, say their plans have come to fruition just as they had hoped--if not better.

"We were fortunate to execute this project exactly as planned," said Chris Crosby, a representative of the Nichols Partnership, which redeveloped the Sears property in Cherry Creek. We were fortunate to have a deal with Janus Capital Group that allowed us to develop during a down period in Denver."

Crosby said that Randy Nichols, principal in the Nichols Partnership, lined up a solid stable of clients like Crate & Barrel and other national retailers for the ground-level commercial space. Nichols also was able to sell the Janus office building, which Nichols had originally planned to hold until the commercial real estate market turned around, to a German company for $56.4 million.

"I think that Randy really worked hard to try and get these businesses to plant a flag in Cherry Creek," Crosby said. "It's a proven market. We don't represent 'Just Anywhere USA.' It took a little longer but we were able to make these deals happen."

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Englewood, in the past, might have deserved being characterized as "Just Anywhere USA." The middle-class town was home to the defunct Cinderella City mall and faced a lack of developable land that was spelling financial hardship for the city. But a light-rail stop and a bold public-private development partnership transformed the once blighted mall into a mecca for area residents.

"We have around 3,500 people boarding daily at the rail stop, which exceeds expectations by 15 percent or so," said Bob Simpson, Englewood community development director. Part of the mall redevelopment included 438 apartments built by developer Trammel Crow. Simpson said occupancy rates...